Red Eyes
by aggroon
Summary: A quick thing because I love the Ishbalan AU over on Tumblr so much. (crossposted from AO3)


He sits on a hill, wind blowing through his blonde hair. His brother, sitting next to him, is poring over a book.

"Brother, do you really think we can bring her back?"

I just wanted to see her smile again.

"Duh." Edward nods, his childish face set in a frown befitting one much older than he. "We can do it. We've studied the theory, there's no way this can go wrong." Alphonse looks downcast as he stares down at the open book, eyes falling on a circle with strange squiggly markings inside and outside. "But what if the others get mad?"

Edward brushes it off. "Nah, whatever. We're Ishbalan, aren't we? What was that one thing Mom always said?" Alphonse's eyes light up. "Though flesh may fail, the faith doth prevail. It means that even though the other's might be mad, our faith will make it all better, right?" Edward nods, his faith in Ishvara unshakable even at this early age.

"Right! They'll see that Ishbalans really can work miracles!" Alphonse's face is bright for a moment, then he droops again. "But… didn't Mom always tell us not to try alchemy?" Edward, annoyed, ignores his brother's objection. "Who cares if it goes against Ishvara? Mom was happy whenever we tried it, right? As long as she comes back, it won't matter."

We tried to touch the sun. We should have never even tried to fly.

"If you're sure, brother." Alphonse, trusting in his brother's confidence, shrugs off his earlier doubt and runs a hair through his silvery-white hair. He looks into his brother's dark red eyes with his own golden pair, then up at the scarlet sky. "Shouldn't we go back? it's getting late."

"Yeah!" Edward jumps to his feet. "What did Granny Pinako say we were having?" Alphonse rises slowly to his feet and bends down to collect the various books on alchemy that they had brought to the hill earlier in the afternoon. "Stew, I think. Winry said beef, I think."

Edward grins, then grimaces. "Man, stew's great. I'll never understand why something that tastes so amazing contains milk." He shudders in disgust at the mention of the last word, and Alphonse looks at him exasperatedly as he is bending down. "You say that every time we have stew, brother."

Edward declares, "And I'll keep sayin' it!" Without looking up this time, Alphonse says, "This is why you're so short, brother."

Offended, Edward glares at Alphonse, trying to think of answer. When he comes up with nothing, he splutters, "I'm not short! I-I… Race you back!" Dashing off, he leaves Alphonse there with a tower of tomes. "B-Brother! Come back! I can't carry all these!" Edward's distant shout trails back to Alphonse. "Shouldn't have called me sho-sh…what you said!"

"Dirty Ishbalans! Go back to your desert and terrorise the sand, idiots!"

All we had wanted was to be less lonely. To get rid of the anchor that labelled us as the enemy.

 **—**

Edward starts as he awakes from a dream of his childhood. "Fullmetal, if you want to sleep, do it on your own time."

Irritated with the overbearing voice, he snaps with his eyes shut, "Idiot Colonel. Don't tell me what to do." Mustang steeples his hands as he sits at the desk he's been assigned to while he's at Central. "Fullmetal, how long will it take you to realise that I am your superior?"

Edward snorts. "Never." There is an underlying tension in the room until Alphonse speaks up from the couch he's sitting on with his brother. "Colonel Mustang, do you have any more leads for us?" He doesn't resemble his younger self at all. Now a towering suit of metal, he refuses to remove his helmet. It is a far cry from the young boy with white hair and golden eyes.

"I do have one for you." Edward and Alphonse lean forward to listen. The Colonel rubs a temple. "You won't like it." Edward stares at the Colonel with his intense red eyes. "Tell me anyway." Roy Mustang, catching a glimpse of those ruby eyes, is frozen for a moment.

Sand like a vast maw, swallowing good and bad Amestrian soldiers alike. The deep scarlet eyes of dark-skinned men as they dashed amongst their enemy, slicing throats with keen-edged daggers and flurries of kicks and punches. The pure white hair as they cut down swathes of soldiers before they could even get to their guns.

The smell of their burning flesh as they were scorched to ashes while they screamed.

"Oi, Colonel. Do you have a lead or not?" He's brought back to the present by this red-eyed boy that might easily be a descendant of those he had murdered, and coughs. "Yes. Liore's where you want to go next. It's in the north-east." Edward raises an eyebrow. "And why d'ya think we won't like it?"

"Followers of a religion, they are. 'The Sun God Leto' is their deity… a man who can perform miracles is the leader and priest there - Cornello. I hear he even brought a man…" He pauses, eyeing the two, then continues. "…back to life."

There's a loud noise as Edward slams his hand down on the table. Clenching and opening his gloved right hand, he mutters. "Fool. A man using religion to dupe others… a man brought back to life… We gotta go there, Al."

He looks up at the colonel. "One more thing. It's impossible to bring a human back to life, colonel.

"I know it too well."


End file.
